Former Deputy Charged In Scam To Steal Satellite Tv

DAYTONA BEACH - Prosecutors Monday charged a former Volusia deputy sheriff with a felony stemming from a scam to steal satellite TV signals.

Edward Parker Wyatt, Jr., 33, is being charged with the third-degree felony of an offense against intellectual property, the State Attorney's Office said Monday.

The office's spokesperson, Linda Brinker, would not comment about when Wyatt would be arrested on the charge.

Wyatt allegedly programmed special computer cards to allow a person to get satellite TV for free, according to an investigative report. The cards have computer chips and are manufactured as blanks. Special programming information is added onto the cards to control which channels a satellite dish can receive. Hundreds of TV channels are sent through satellite signals.

Wyatt is being charged under the intellectual property law, which makes illegal any unauthorized changes on a computer, computer equipment or data. A third-degree felony carries up to a five-year prison term.

State and federal authorities have been investigating Wyatt in connection with the satellite TV scam, which may have involved other deputies. Five deputies have been suspended with pay while an internal investigation is under way, but their roles remain unclear.

Wyatt, who supervised prisoner transport, resigned Aug. 18.

In a report released by prosecutors last week, investigators wrote that they suspected Wyatt of visiting homes, like an unauthorized cable worker, to set up the bootleg TV by programming the satellite cards.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement set up an undercover operation with an informant who acted as a customer and called Wyatt to program a satellite TV.

Investigators gave the customer 10 blank computer-chip cards, five of which would be programmed, and the other five given to Wyatt as payment.

On Aug. 4, Wyatt visited the informant and stayed 22 minutes at the residence. During that time, Wyatt programmed the blank cards on a personal computer, the informant told investigators.

Tests on the programmed cards showed they were capable of accessing the satellite TV channels, the agency said.